Is Penny Really My Dog, or Is She My Fourth Cat? Meet Savanna’s Cats!

Hi, I’m Savanna! Read my introduction to learn more about me and my spunky Chihuahua mix, Penny.

Does your dog think he’s (or she’s) a cat? Sometimes I’m convinced that Penny does, or at least she acts like my cats sometimes.

As you may know, we have three cats, and all of the cats were here before we ever got Penny. I don’t know if that led to some kind of identity crisis in Penny, but as humans, we know that if we spend enough time around someone, we eventually start to pick up on some of their mannerisms.

I think that’s what happened to Penny, since she’s the odd one out when it comes to my pets. In reality, I think Penny is fully aware that she is not a cat and that she is technically the dominant animal despite being the same size as the cats. But I think the problem stems from the fact that she doesn’t understand why the cats are allowed to do things that she isn’t. Here are some of the ways that Penny acts like a cat, how she asserts dominance over them, and what it’s like living with a dog and three cats.

But First, a Brief Introduction to My Kitties

If you’re reading for the first time this week, I was always a cat lover first. So when we took Penny in from my niece Alissa who rescued Penny but couldn’t keep her permanently, I had to make sure that she was good with cats since we had three cats at home already. After all, the cats were here first. But Alissa had a cat too, and assured me that the cat was Penny’s best friend, so we took Penny in.

Just so you can get the full experience, it’s important for you to briefly get to know my three kitties. We know them by their actual name, but Penny knows them by other names, and that’s how she tells them apart.

Bubba

Bubba is my orange tabby cat, and of the three cats we have now, he’s the oldest and the first one we got. I got him as a kitten from a friend who had found him. He’s the typical lazy, grumpy old man cat, and sometimes we think he only has about one brain cell. Penny knows him as “stripey kitty” and they’re pretty indifferent to each other most of the time, but they get along just fine.

Kittylina

Kittylina (Lina for short) was a birthday gift for my daughter. She is the second kitty we got, the tortoiseshell, and we got her from a PetSmart adoption event where they partnered with a local animal shelter. She was described to us as “almost feral”, and it took her a while to warm up to the idea of being in our home. She doesn’t mind if you approach and pet her, but she definitely has that “tortoiseshell diva” reputation and won’t approach you. Penny knows her as “speckled kitty”, and she is a little wary of Lina for whatever reason. It’s probably because Lina is the only one who ever swats at Penny when she wants to be left alone.

Thunder

Thunder, the gray cat, is the youngest and the last kitty we got. He was rehomed from my sister. He’s definitely the smartest of our three cats, and he seems more like a dog than a cat sometimes. He even plays fetch with his toy mice. This is Penny’s “friend kitty”, the one she gets along best with, probably because their personalities are the most similar. They get along well most of the time, except when he’s getting pets and she isn’t. Then Penny turns into a jealous little attention hog.

How Penny Acts Like a Cat

Now that you know our three cats a little better, I think living with them has rubbed off on Penny a little bit, and here’s how.

“Empty” Food Bowls

What’s the one thing we know to always be true about cats? If they can even see a tiny section of their food bowl at the bottom, they beg for more food, and they aren’t fooled by simply rearranging the food to make it look like you added more. (Just FYI, we don’t give in to our cats every time they beg for more food. We feed them twice a day, when their bowls are empty or almost empty.)

But now, Penny has started asking for more food when she sees a tiny section of her bowl at the bottom. I think she learned from watching the cats, because she used to not do that. The difference is that with Penny, I can simply rearrange her food a little bit to make it look like there’s more, and that’s good enough for her.

Being on the Coffee Table

It’s almost impossible to keep cats off of counters, tabletops, etc. They always know where you don’t want them to be, and that’s where they go. Thunder especially has a habit of jumping up on our coffee table and just sitting there grooming himself. It’s not really a problem, because he doesn’t do it while we eat or anything.

But Penny thinks that because “friend kitty” can get on the coffee table, she can too. The problem is that she can’t jump from the floor to the coffee table like the cats can, so she has to jump onto the couch and then from the couch to the coffee table. I’m afraid she’s going to miss the table and hurt herself. She’s definitely not as agile as the cats. Also, she’s not up there just to be up there. She’s up there looking for crumbs and other “snacks”. So I always have to make her get off the table.

How Penny Exerts “Dominance” Over the Cats

Even though Penny acts like the cats in some ways, she knows she’s not the same species as them. But watching her try to exert her dominance over the cats when she’s the same size as them is hilarious. She seems to have appointed herself as “kitty monitor”, and she knows where all of the cats are at any time. She even tries to herd them into the same area of the house. That’s why we gave them those nicknames, so she doesn’t confuse their names with other things. For example, you can say “Where’s stripey kitty?”, and she’ll take you to exactly where Bubba is.

But the funniest thing that ever happened was when a strong wind blew our back door open one morning. Lina woke us up by coming into the bedroom, jumping up on the bed, and meowing trying to get our attention, which was unusual for her. So we get up, follow Lina to the backdoor, and find Thunder and Bubba outside in the backyard with Penny running around them, barking to get their attention, then running back toward the door trying to get them back inside. Meanwhile, Lina was giving us this look like, “Will you please do something about these three idiots disturbing my peace?”

Anyway, Penny definitely thinks she’s in charge of the kitties, and she’s really quick to come get us if she thinks one of them is doing something they shouldn’t be. Usually, that’s sitting on the coffee table, since she’s not allowed to. But sometimes she even comes to get us if one of the cats is batting something around on the floor or making noise in any way, because she thinks they’re doing something wrong if they aren’t just lying on the back of the couch sleeping quietly.

Is Penny My Fourth Cat?

I don’t think Penny actually thinks she’s a cat, but I do think she acts the same way the cats do sometimes just to see what she can get away with. So sometimes, it’s like having four cats in the house. But watching a dog that’s the same size as a cat trying to assert herself over the cats never fails to make me laugh, and the cats would definitely do more damage to Penny than she would to them if they didn’t get along. Luckily, my three cats and Penny get along just fine. They truly are Penny’s friends, even if she is a little bossy towards them sometimes.